Understanding Ogun APC crisis

SIR: I have lived in Ogun State since 1977 even though I am from Imo State. I can claim to know about the politics of the region as much as that of the South-east. Besides, I am a student of politics and history.

At the heart of the crisis in the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is the fear of election. I do not think the problem is strictly between the incumbent governor, Ibikunle Amosun and former governor, Olusegun Osoba. This is because, at every public forum that I’m aware of, the governor has always acknowledged Osoba as leader of the party, although by virtue of the APC constitution, the governor should be the leader. Equally, the former governor has spoken of the unprecedented achievements of the current governor. So the re-election of Amosun is not under any threat just as the position of Osoba as the party leader is not challenged.

All over the world, there are tendencies within political parties and members usually gravitate towards one party chieftain or the other. But the current problem in Ogun is that current members of the National Assembly from the state want to retain their position in 2015. They gravitate towards Osoba and, from all indications, have his support. However, there are other aspirants who believe the NASS members have performed below expectation and therefore must be replaced. These aspirants claim they have the sympathies of Amosun.

But from what I gathered authoritatively, Amosun has not supported anyone for any slot. What he wants is a level-playing field where the current elected office holders, including himself can contest against other aspirants within the party. This is the crux of the matter. The incumbent office holders don’t want election but selection.

All the talk about parallel ward congress on April 5 is a lie because a few days before the election, Osoba and Amosun worked together and also they jointly monitored the election. It was an open contest, free and fair. But since the loyalists of the NASS members did not have the upper hand, the talk of division and parallel congress began to rent the airwaves. Till date, nobody has been able to tell us the exact location of any parallel ward congress in Ogun on April 5.

The current talk of non-forgiveness, non-harmonisation, and non-reconciliation is unhelpful to the cause of democracy and internal democracy within political parties, except, of course, this people all along had “hidden agenda”. Unforgiveness is neither in the Bible nor Koran.

Then people should stop name-dropping. The real Awoists are those who do what Awo did or stood for. If you love with your heart the masses, declare free education, revive agriculture, including farm settlements, construct durable roads and bridges, declare free health, provide security of lives and property, etc. then you are the true Awoist, and the majority of Yoruba will always support such a person, come rain come sunshine. It does not matter whether you ate with Awo, slept on the same bed with him during his life-time or not.

All lovers of democracy should accept elections, go for primaries. The losers should congratulate the winners and vice versa, because in a contest between members of the same family – as Amosun was quoted to have said recently – ‘there are no victors, no vanquished.”